L.A. PARKER: Trenton's students need support

Trenton High’s new football coach Tarig Holman recently assumed the position and made a statement delivered by so many others before him.

“I will do whatever it takes to make these kids successful both on the field and off it,” Holman reportedly said.

Great. I hope Holman knows some quality demolition men who can bring down Trenton High before the building falls on students.

Trenton High is not Montgomery High, where Holman served as defensive and special teams coordinator.

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Montgomery owns a school ranking of No. 16 in New Jersey while Trenton ranks 317 out of 322 public schools. These students may orbit the same sun but they are worlds apart in conversations about education success, public safety and family structure.

Here’s a question for social mathematicians. If Trenton owns a 53 percent graduation rate, what happens to the 47 percent of students who never take that great walk?

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney offered his infamous statements about the 47 percenters, although his account made the disenfranchised sound like intentional freeloaders.

Still, students who do not succeed with education become candidates for public assistance, criminal activity, correctional facilities, death, addiction, poverty, and a litany of other social ills that remain difficult to avoid.

The brain children of Trenton keep talking about everything under the sun but Trenton will never change until officials build a new high school, rid the District of bad educators, and cultivate an intense reading initiative.

Replacing the city’s superintendent may reward us with success. Currently, Superintendent Francisco Duran seems more like a vampire because he rarely gets seen during daylight hours.

Francisco “No Mas” Duran treks back-and-forth to Philadelphia as Trenton students continue down the slippery slope into an abyss for the uneducated.

City Council should extend an invitation for Mr. Duran to present hs educational agenda before the end of the school year. Think about it. About three months remain in this school year and I could not tell you anything that’s been done about city education.

Councilwoman at-large Kathy McBride apparently referenced a “educational summit” scheduled for this weekend but if the event exists it’s one of the best kept secrets in city history.

Trenton High officials should yield to trickery regarding getting parents’ attention. Schedule a boys basketball game for 7 p.m. but tell parents that the game actually starts an hour earlier.

Voila! Packed house for one of the most attended parent-teacher exchanges in Trenton history. Hey, drastic times require similar measures.

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Tough times at Trenton High gave Tiffani Johnson, MD, a desire to succeed.

The High graduate is a third-year fellow in pediatric emergency medicine at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC where she focuses on improving advocacy for underrepresented and underserved childen through clinical practice, policy and research.

Johnson believes that growing up in an urban school district with limited resources, low standardized test scores, and high dropout rates made her work that much harder.

The good doctor graduated summa cum laude with a BS in biology from Xavier University in 2002. She earned her MD from the University of Medicine and Dentistry four years later.

Congratulations to Johnson and all the other Trenton High graduates who succeed in more difficult times than they deserve. Persistence, perseverance and perspiration usually deliver fantastic success stories.

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Earlier this week concerns were raised here about a malfunctioning traffic light at the corner of North Clinton Ave. and Perry St.

The light blinked for one full week but great news for those weary motorists and pedestrians who survived the dangerous condition.

It’s fixed!

OK, the City needed a week to repair the light but just the fact that it’s back in order represents a victory.

There’s nothing quite like posting a troubled spot then seeing a quick response and resolution.

“Everytime I go through the light, I’m going to think of you,” said a friend.

Be still my heart. Columnist love.

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Finally, sad news to report about the passing of Roland Laird.

Prayers go out to his family and friends.

Maybe Roland did not win in his city council campaign but Trenton proved the worst for him not gaining that seat.

Mr. Laird represented a fantastic hope for the City of Trenton.

Many had always included Laird as a key component of a city revitalization. We move forward with his undying love for Trenton and his belief that better times await us.

— L.A. Parker is a Trentonian columnist. Reach him at laparker@Trentonian.com.